Elevate Your Brand with Dynamic Motion Print Solutions
• Limited budget for high-impact marketing strategies. • Clearly differentiating from competitors. • Inability to convey the full story and essence of your brand. • Struggling to leave a memorable impression and impact on potential customers. • Lack of resources for implementing cutting-edge marketing technologies. But imagine if this could be done for you in a way that showcases your business creating a memorable experience that leaves a lasting impression for your prospect. Now, with Dynamic Motion print solutions, you can bring your materials to life and captivate your audience like never before. Dynamic Motion technology offers a groundbreaking way to elevate your brand presence. From business cards to brochures, these innovative print products seamlessly integrate dynamic video content with branding, creating a strong memorable experience. And the best bit … you probably already have a lot of what is needed to make this work for you! Challenges All Small Business Owners Face
How Dynamic Motion solutions will help You
Taking it further The objective is always a simple call to action to scan the code, the video will do the rest for you • Where possible, I would always aim to bring your print to life so that the first image clearly reflects the printed material and quickly takes the prospect 'inside' on the journey you want them to experience. • Clickable links can be inside the video, your prospect doesn’t have to leave the video or go and look for what to do next. You can place links wherever you want, but the advise is generally to have just the one call to action • Everything is done for you, including permanent hosting. You also get the file sent to use as you wish. • You can provide as many or as few pieces of content as you like. The standard video range is from 30 seconds to 2 minutes. Whatever you don’t provide will be created from your branding imagery, not from standard templates. • Once you have your video created you can do what you like with it in terms of changes, replacements etc. There are lots of optional settings and scope for development going forward.. The concept of Dynamic Motion is not new, but this implementation of it is, and as you can see, the possibilites are almst endless. Because of this, every project is unque and the time requied to produce it and costs involved will vary. Getting started however is not an expensive outlay, and is an extremely economic way to explore these possibilities. All the details here If you are reading this the chances are you are a solopreneur or small business owner; there are paid plans that offer a new way to buy print and graphics and this Dynamic Motion print solution is included in them. The future could be bright after all! See more here
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Is Design & Print Effective for Your Business in 2024?
• Utilising Technology - Keeping up to Date: Advancements in technology have made it easier to create and customise printed materials. Interactive functional and engaging designs now present lots of options for businesses to explore beyond the limits of traditional printed materials. The importance of integrating printed materials with digital, particularly for marketing has never been so great. The synergy between online and offline strategies is a way to maximize impact. Design, print and technology trends will keep driving forward to new places… in 2024 and beyond. By staying current, businesses can ensure that their printed materials remain relevant and effective in capturing their target audience's attention. • Choosing Sustainable Options and investing in Quality: With growing environmental concerns, small businesses can now and should consider using eco-friendly materials and printing techniques where possible. This aligns with consumers' values and reduces the business's carbon footprint, but there is often a higher cost over traditional printing methods. The requirement is to balance quality with environmental considerations and cost as all these aspects contribute towards making a significant impact on brand perception and effectiveness. • Measuring Impact: Tracking the performance of printed materials through various available metrics is always important. This is needed to refine a strategy and improve future campaigns. I haven’t included the breakdown of all the detail that is required for each function, that would be too much for this article. The chances are you are getting a lot of bits right abut also some pieces of the jigsaw are missing! That’s the case 90% of the time. I’ll give you some examples Branding is identity, and identity relates to you. It works on several levels and it varies, BUT, getting it right for YOUR business is hugely important. That might mean spending time and/or money on one particular aspect of your branding but not on another. A jobbing builder probably doesn't need beautifully matching printed stationery, but they would need an easily recognisable logo. They probably would have branded clothing, van and site signage that projected that logo. Then, separate from requirement there is the whole design aspect – knowing how and where to place elements, and what colours actually work in the real world (they’re not always the combinations people choose!). Technology has been for the last year or two and will continue to move at a very fast pace for most businesses it has created additional hurdles while a the same time sprinkling its magic. You only have to get a handful of business owners together and ask them what they think of AI and the differences in their answers will tell you. There are opportunities still untapped and there are opportunities that simply cost too much for many small business owners to utilise fully at the present, but this will likely change very soon. Linking print to digital interfaces has been possible for a long time but many organisations are not using it effectively. Keeping up with trends is a minefield to navigate right now but it is necessary to first gain knowledge and then make informed decisions as to how you can use something and what it can do for you. It’s hard sometimes to decide whether to pay extra to satisfy environmental issues. Are you going to stop using that cellophane wrapper? Are you going to make sure all your printing from this moment is printed on eco-friendly materials? Or does this not matter that much to you right now and overall cost will affect your decision? Disclaimer: I am not suggesting the course you must take, merely highlighting that the issue now constantly needs addressing. And measuring the effects of all these parts matters. All the cogs and wheels need to spin together in a way that drives you forward, (staying still is no longer really an option unless you are somehow established beyond the realms of business mortality!) There are so many metrics out there … for everything. You have to decide what matters. Running a small online store gives me access to a tonne of stats, and over the last 3 years or so I have learned which ones actually matter … it isn’t what I was told and thought 3 years ago! You need to know the effectiveness of your print and design. This can be difficult to measure but there are ways. ​So the first thing is to ask yourself these two key questions:Can I do all this myself?
Is it worth my time? Everyone’s situation is slightly different. You might be capable but time blocks you. You might have someone employed to do this for you already, or you might be thinking OMG! I didn’t know any of this stuff mattered that much! It’s okay. The key point is that when you know the answers you can make the best choices going forward. Using a Design and Print service to help with all this has traditionally been the answer, but now there are a whole lot more things to consider, and not so many companies can afford to help on a one-to-one basis. Make the best decisions that you can by yourself but then seek out help for everything else. You shouldn’t ever have to pay for sound advice. There is a lot of support available and it can come in all different shapes and sizes. It just depends on what your particular needs are. Get some clarity and find out how you can get one-to-one advice on everything discussed in this article: Book a Free Discovery Call Make Design and Print effective in 2024 Be Different
By embracing uniqueness and finding ways to stand out, you can attract and retain customers and secure long-term success in highly competitive markets, but it’s not always going to be straightforward. There are of course lots of ways this can be done, many parts of the engine need to run in perfect synchronisity for a business to be successfull, but here I am going to get straight to the heart of things and give you the reasons why it matters and some actionable steps that any small business owner can take today. But why is all this so important?In essence, businesses that don't embrace differentiation are going to face increased competition, limited customer interest, stagnation, irrelevance, price sensitivity, a lack of competitive advantage, and missed growth opportunities … like never before! Understanding and implementing strategies for differentiation is vital for businesses to remain relevant, profitable, and resilient in today's dynamic and highly competitive marketplace. This applies to all small businesses regardless. We live in changing times… the chances are you are going to have to get creative at some point. So what does your Business need to do?Well, the first step is to assess how well things are going, what is working well for you and what are the main pain points. At this point, I am bound to say ‘I’m sure you’ve heard this all before,’ so let’s knuckle down... There is a word that goes with everything I have said so far … it’s Branding. Being different is a major part of your brand. What you are known for is not just your business name and logo, it’s who you are and what you do that is really going to make a difference going forward. So, I have a little branding health check questionnaire for you.
It is just a simple tick-box sheet for you to get an honest idea in your own mind if you want to print it out and have a go. It’s generic, so don’t take it as Gospel, but this sort of assessment is something small business owners too often put off doing. When you have done this you’ll have some idea of where you are on the ‘being different’ scale. Your success now comes down to how you implement two main things that everyone can do but a lot of people struggle with • Clear identification of the thing you are (or want to be) known for, (your USP) • The ability you have to put into action a process of following up every opportunity to emphasise this. The Biggest RoadblocksAs humans, we seem to find that these roadblocks very easily and quickly erect themselves whenever we feel threatened. We all find this at some point although successful business owners have a ‘remove them’ approach. (Work on that mindset if you don’t already possess it!). The biggest block to being different is simply ‘How?’ The instinctive process of thought is that ‘I’m in a such and such industry or niche where that doesn’t apply because you can’t do such and such, or my customers won’t want this or that … etc. etc.’ We all do it … including myself at times, because it’s a natural defence mechanism we have to something unknown that we don’t as yet understand. When you remove the roadblocks, all that is required is a ‘thinking outside the box’ approach. Then, it comes down to doing something and following up on every avenue it leads you down. Successful businesses are doing this all the time. Some ExamplesHere are some examples of ways this can work in the real world: A small local bakery, known for its delectable pastries and bread, wanted to stand out in a crowded market. They decided to offer a unique twist by creating signature flavours inspired by local ingredients and cultural influences. They experimented with infusing their pastries with exotic spices and regional flavours, resulting in creations like "Lemongrass-Ginger Croissants" and "Cardamom Pistachio Danish." These unique flavour combinations became an instant hit, and customers began flocking to the bakery for them. Their commitment to local flavours and innovative recipes set them apart from competitors and established them as a must-visit destination for food enthusiasts. Then there was the small fashion startup that knowing they were in a competitive industry from the outset aimed to make a difference by offering sustainable and eco-friendly clothing. They sourced materials from organic farms, and recycled fabrics, and employed ethical production practices. However, they knew that to truly differentiate themselves, they needed a unique selling point. They introduced a "Circular Fashion" model, where customers could return their worn-out garments to be upcycled into new designs or recycled responsibly. This innovative approach not only reduced waste but also allowed customers to be a part of the brand's sustainability journey. Their commitment to a closed-loop fashion system made them stand out and attract environmentally conscious consumers who aligned with their values. A personal training coach, passionate about helping clients achieve their fitness goals noticed that many people struggled to stay motivated. To address this, he incorporated a unique element into their training sessions: customised playlists curated for each client. They believed that music could boost energy, and mood, and create a more enjoyable workout experience. By taking the time to understand their clients' music preferences and crafting personalised playlists, the coach not only made their sessions more engaging but also built a reputation for going the extra mile to create a unique and tailored experience. Clients appreciated the added motivation and personal touch. This led to increased referrals and a loyal following. These are just three example stories of people who have addressed the issue head-on and created a unique aspect of their business. They should get you thinking about specific things you could try for your own business. Some IdeasEveryone is different, I can’t give you an exact blueprint, you need to think about what you can apply to YOUR circumstances … but I’ll bet there is something here you can use an idea from.
Here are some quick-fire snippets to give you ideas. • The Window cleaner who also cleans the car windows on the driveway for free - the imagery of this could be used in promotion materials. • The builder or tradesperson that becomes known for thoroughly clearing up as part of their regular service - they might even use a different uniform or a work-top made to wear, especially for the clear-up stage and promote this while doing it. Again, the image of this in practice could be displayed on certain promotional material. • The Auto service that offers a free tyre check for every customer and bothers to fill out a card to be taken away and kept rather than having just a boring MOT printout' • Be the business that always recommends – If you are in an industry or niche where you often get enquiries for work outside your scope, be the person who can always point people in the right direction. Make it official by having a brochure, list or handout of some sort. You’ll be remembered for it. • Online business service provider that gives away a free Ad design or creates a social media post BEFORE someone signs up for a monthly fee. (Something that allows prospects to see a glimmer of a result before committing). • Provide a free personalised loyalty card or free gift of some sort after every order. There are lots of options, make sure it is of value. • If you deliver a product - become the fastest! I currently use a stationery supplier who doesn’t charge any postage and gets stuff to me the next day every time, even ordering as late as 6.00 pm. It’s a cost to them, but they get all my business as I need it fast and have often been let down in the past. You will have spotted that ALL these things in reality carry a cost and in some cases will take a fair bit of organisation. In answer to that I would say, you are correct … but so what? Taking action to brand yourself a bit differently from others will likely cost you extra time or money or both, but in the long run, it is worth it. Know your numbers … how much is a new customer worth to you? The next stage is down to you to go and get something done or expand on, re-emphasise and follow up on something that you already have. Being different makes the difference. If you need personalised help, my specialism is helping small businesses do just this by utilising design and printed products to create some of these opportunities. And if you just want to test the water, most things can be produced in small amounts with short runs, inexpensively and quickly. So now, all you need to do is get out there and follow the instruction given to us by a famous shoe manufacturer … ‘Just do it!’ THe 5 'must knows' when buying printBuying print is easy ... isn't it?You know what you want, you contact your regular printer and place the order and a few days later your printed leaflets, booking forms, printed office stationery or whatever it is you have ordered arrives just as you expected. If only this happened every time for everyone … and it should. But although for many businesses this process seems to work fine there are a lot of things you need to get right when buying print or design work and many small businesses just don’t really understand what they are buying. There is an assumption that everyone ‘needs’ certain things and that they must be produced a certain way… because that’s how it’s always been done! Whilst this bears very true for some tried and tested principles, we are living in a world where the digital age has transformed what is available to us and many things in print have now changed. Then there is design work to consider. Do you really know what you need, or just what you think you would like to happen? There is a difference. Print and design can do a huge job for most businesses when things are done correctly, but equally, you can easily waste your money. Here is a 5-point checklist of things you need to ask yourself and take ownership of before you spend serious money on printed material. 5 Point Checklist1. Do you need it? Are you clear about the purpose this piece of print or design has? 2. Are you getting the best value? Could you order more to reduce the cost per item, or order less, because actually, you might not need that many? – The design might need to change, or it might now be that the cost per item is cheaper! 3. Is there a better product for your purpose that could have more effect for the same cost? Eg. You were thinking of 5000 flyers because you’ve used them before, but maybe now 500 targeted neighbourhood cards might have more effect? 4. Are you clear whether you need artwork done or whether the artwork is ‘print-ready’? Printers usually give you a price assuming you have ‘print-ready’ artwork. That means you must have the high resolution digital files ready to send exactly as to be printed. There will usually be extra costs involved otherwise and these can be quite large. 5. Will the printed material enhance your brand? Okay, this one might seem a bit heavy but if you don’t consider this it’s an opportunity missed. Brand is important, it’s not just about print and design, but every material you have should at least be produced ‘on brand’ and represent your business. So these are the basic points, but the truth is there is a lot more you can do and alot more help you can get when you need it. Print buying should be a positive thing for any business. In this age where digital technology and artificial intelligence appear to be taking over decisions about when and where you buy your print, what you choose, and how you construct your budget becomes more important to get right than ever before.
Get in touch or comment if you would like to find out more. Preparing Your Artwork - what you need to knowThe following is a brief explanation of the basics needed to get your designed artwork to a level where it can be printed without fear of things not turning out as expected. The end product can only be as good as the artwork supplied. If you are supplying your artwork you should find this helpful. • A PDF file is usually the most suitable, but we can work from JPG, PNG, TIFF, WORD.doc and OFFICE.odt files. • All artwork should be supplied in CMYK colour space. RGB can be used for short digital print runs but for most print material the colour gamuts will be converted and this will affect the trueness of the colours. Confused about the difference between RGB and CMYK and what it will mean for your print job? • All elements of your file should have a minimum resolution of 300 dpi. Ideally, fonts should be embedded. (Disclaimer: Lawfully, we advise you to check your end-user license agreement to ensure you are permitted to embed fonts). • If you have images that are going to bleed off the edge of the paper then you need your artwork to contain an extra 3mm of area around ALL edges. Additionally, no text or image elements should be within 4mm of the cut edge Images and vector filesAll images should be a minimum of 300 dpi and should not be scaled up in your artwork by more than 125%. Images taken from the internet will NOT be good enough quality for professional printing as the typical resolution used on the web is 72 dpi. The exception is when ordering large printed products for outdoor use such as banners and signs. Anything larger than A2 size can be sent at 50% size or at a reduced resolution of 150 dpi. Generally, Logos and illustrations which are not vector-based, should adhere to these rules. Vector artwork can be scaled as required. Take care with any compression of images, keep this to a minimum to avoid the printed image appearing degraded when printed. We recommend that all images, logos and illustrations are converted to CMYK before creating the PDF file to avoid unexpected results. Certain colours which may look bright on screen in the RGB colour gamut will simply never print with the same vibrancy when converted to CMYK, this applies particularly to neons, deep blues and bright reds. Digital cameras use RGB colour space and therefore we recommend images be converted to CMYK in Photoshop or an equivalent programme with the capability to retouch and enhance the colours if required. Ensure that all vector files also use the CMYK colour space and do NOT include spot colours or low-resolution images. If you have referenced colour swatches such as Pantone, ensure these colours are converted to CMYK in your document. BleedThe document's bleed area is an additional area outside the page size, necessary to ensure even printing of elements that are required to bleed off the edge of your page. This bleed area will be trimmed off the job but it allows for the blade bends of 1-1.5mm on the guillotine when a stack of paper is trimmed. Adding the required bleed to your job will prevent your trimmed page from having white borders. Page 'safe' area: To ensure text and important information are not trimmed off your job, we recommend that you do not place items within 4mm of the trimmed edge unless you need them to bleed off. Document sizes and formattingThere are two ways you can set your document page size: Either set it to reflect the trimmed size of your job, in which case you should specify bleed as 3mm on all edges when creating your pdf and this will then be included on your pdf file automatically. If you are a seasoned or professional designer following this method then obviously you should also set the pdf file to include crop marks. However, we work frequently from files that have been created with the bleed included in which case crop marks are not necessary as the job will automatically be trimmed to standard print-ordered size. Eg: an A4 document without crop marks but requiring bleed must be supplied at a size of 216 x 303 (3mm bleed all around) - it will automatically be trimmed to 210 x 297 NOTE: If there is NO bleed on your work ie. white paper is all that will be seen within 5mm of every page edge, then just provide a document that is the correct finished page size. Booklets and multi-page documentsPlease send as a continuous multi-page file with all pages in order, DON'T try to impose the page order using print or design spreads such as are supplied with Microsoft Office and other desktop publishing programmes. Folded single sheet leafletsWhen it is clear that only one folded sheet is required then you CAN impose the individual sides yourself. Eg: an A4 leaflet folded in half to form 4 sides of A5 should be laid out as a double-sided A4 sheet with the A5 sides in correct imposition order. Common page sizesA3 297 x 420mm A4 210 x 297mm A5 148 x 210mm A6 105 x 148mm Creating a PDF fileAs well as the above measurement specifications there are one or two other important points to get the best result.
If your authoring application allows you to preflight your document before conversion to pdf format, we recommend you use this facility as it will highlight all the specifics. If you don't have this feature then most applications will make a reasonable quality PDF straight off the bat as long as your source file meets all the specifications listed above. When creating your print-quality PDF file you must ensure that you use print-quality settings, by default the Acrobat PDF Maker in Microsoft Office creates PDF files using standard settings, at the time of writing these do NOT meet the requirements for professional printing. If you are using a PC and do not have a PDF convertor you can download and install PrimoPDF for free. The industry print standard for a PDF file that you should make is PDF/X All the guidance and advice given here is industry standard without all the fluff. In other words, these are the important points. now, if you are design savvy most of this guidance will make perfect sense, but if not, do not fear. While this may sound or seem very technical Designed4print can help. If you have subscribed to one of the plans you will get a hefty discount, if not help will still always be available. |
AuthorTom Goymour Archives
March 2024
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